Hellfire (Eddie Munson x OC Stranger Things Fanfiction)

Chapter 15: Compass of Destiny

"Well we're one step closer," Robin says. "We know how Vecna attacks."

"And where he attacks from," Lucas adds.

"So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the upside down and drive a stake through his heart," Max continues.

"If he even has a heart," Robin says.

"A stake? Is he, like, a vamp? Is he a vampire?" Steve asks, panicked at the thought of having to kill a vampire. I roll my eyes.

"It was a metaphor."

I notice Eddie looking over at me. He silently asks if I'm okay, to which I shake my head. How could I be okay? I'm having nightmares, one of which just came true right infront of my fucking eyes.

Eddie pats the space next to him, asking for me to join him. I eagerly agree, needing to feel close to him right now and knowing he needs me too. I know he isn't okay either. This is the second time he's seen someone die like that infront of him.

"A bullet should work on him, right?" Eddie asks.

"I say we chop his head off," Lucas says.

"Yeah, then burn his body so there's no chance of him coming back," I add.

"Yeah, and I'd say all of the above, but we can't do any of that 'til we find a way into the upside down," Nancy says.

"Yeah, we need El to get her powers back," Max adds.

"Everything was way easier. We had this girl. She had superpowers-" Steve begins.

"Superpowers. Yeah, you mentioned her. Hey, uh, Henderson's not, uh, cursed, is he?" Eddie asks. I look over at Dustin, seeing him pacing and talking to himself.

"Cursed? No, no. He's fine. Mental? Absolutely."

"Boom!" Dustin suddenly shouts, his voice echoing. "Bada, bada, boom. I was right. Skull Rock was North."

"Seriously? You're serious?"

"Mm-hmm."

"This is Skull Rock. Okay?"

"Mm-hmm."

"You're totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now!"

"Yes. And no."

Steve throws his hands up in exasperation whilst Dustin holds up his compass.

"This compass worked correctly when we left the Wheelers', it was correct when we got in the car on Curly. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now, it's way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn't wrong. The compass was."

"So, you're using faulty equipment, dude. You're still wrong!"

"Except, it isn't faulty. Lucas, do you remember what can affect a compass?"

"An electromagnetic field."

"Yep."

"I'm sorry, I must have skipped that class."

"In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power. So either there's some super big magnet around here or..."

"There's a gate!"

"But we're no where near the lab."

"Hey, are you understanding any of this?" I ask Eddie, leaning my head closer to his.

"Not really," he lightly chuckles, resting his head on mine.

"But what if, somehow, there's another gate? A gate that we don't know about. It'd have to be smaller. Way less powerful," Dustin says.

"Snack-size gate," Robin adds.

"How? Why?" Steve asks.

"No idea. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we've seen anything like it, it was a gate and I hope it is because then we'd have a way to Vecna and a shot at freeing Max from this curse."

Dustin turns to walk away, eager to follow his compass.

"Where are you going? Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Eddie's still a wanted man. We can't just go for a hike in the woods."

"This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie. What say you, Eddie the Banished?"

"I say you're asking me to follow you into Mordor, which if I'm totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea. But, uh, the Shire...the Shire is burning."

Dustin starts jumping up and down on the spot, giddiness taking over. Eddie smiles, rising from his seat on the rock.

"So, Mordor it is!"

I smirk up at Eddie as he references one of the books I gave him years ago as a birthday present. I want so bad to stamp my oar into the ground and shout 'you shall not pass', but its not worth it, considering only 3 other people would probably get the reference.

Eddie mouths at me to shut up when he sees my smirk, before holding out his hand to help me up and dragging me towards Dustin.

He suddenly let's go of my hand, running back to grab his walkie and his water. Rejoining me a few seconds later, stuffing his things in his pockets.

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We seem to have been walking for hours. The sun has set and Dustin is leading us here and there with his compass.

I look at a tree, seeing a familiar marking. Have we been here before?

"Are you alright?" Eddie asks, grabbing my hand in his.

"I don't know. I saw Patrick dead before he even died and then there's what happened when I fell in the lake-" I start to say but Eddie cuts me off.

"What happened in the lake?"

"It felt like something was pulling me down, like something was squeezing my throat."

"If I knew you couldn't swim, I never would have let you get in that boat."

"No, Eddie. I can swim, I saved your ass when we were kids, remember? You almost killed yourself in Lake Jordan. No, this, uh, this was different."

"What do you mean?"

"Something was dragging me down Eddie. Physically dragging me."

Suddenly, I start feeling a pull in the direction Dustin is walking in. I look at Eddie and start to think he feels it too when he rushes towards Dustin.

"Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin?" Eddie says, trailing behind a quick-moving Dustin.

"I think we're getting close," Dustin says looking back at us. Eddie quickly grabs his backpack, pulling him away from the lake, stopping him from falling in.

"Watch your step, big guy," Eddie says, patting Dustin's chest.

"Oh, man. You gotta be shitting me," Steve says, realising where we are.

I feel my heart constrict at the realisation.

"Yeah. I thought these woods were familiar," Eddie adds.

My heart starts beating against my chest as a cold sweat trickles down my back.

"Lover's Lake," Robin says.

"This is confounding," Dustin states, fascinated.

"There's a gate in Lover's Lake?" Max asks.

My vision goes blurry as I recall the events of last night, the tightness in my throat returning.

"Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna's the same way," Nancy says.

"Yeah, only one way to find out."